MENTAL TRAINING EFFECTS ON VOLUNTARY MUSCLE STRENGTH

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：改进 随意的肌肉力量可以通过肌肉的扩大来实现。 肿块或神经系统中发生的变化。神经机制 实力增强背后的原因是鲜为人知的。最近的一项研究 已经证明了手部肌肉的自愿力量可以 通过训练增加想象的最大收缩。这一发现 表明神经系统能够增加身体的力量 缺乏肌肉锻炼与相关神经改变的起源 力量训练似乎存在于大脑中。当前应用程序 建议通过研究两个具体目标来探索这一现象。目标1 将决定想象肌肉收缩训练对 肘屈肌和小指展肌的力量。其基础是 目标1是手部肌肉的控制方案在以下几个方面有所不同 离近端肌肉有很大距离。目标2将确定潜在的神经 改善肌肉性能的机制是由于 想象肌肉收缩训练。初步结果显示 那：(1)肘屈肌的力量可以增加(40%， 平均3名受试者)通过想象收缩训练；(2) 是前额叶联合皮质的强烈激活 想象收缩，这种激活在受过训练的受试者中更强； 以及(3)想象收缩期间大脑的激活模式 与肌肉剧烈收缩时的情况类似。的假设 这个应用是想象收缩训练将导致 五指外展肌和肘屈肌的力量增加相似 肌肉和肌肉力量的增加将由更大的 来自前额叶皮质的下行指令。三组(一个对照 和两个训练组)将招募年轻、健康的人类受试者 为了这项研究。培训小组将接受为期40节的培训， 想象中的最大收缩。两组肌肉的自主性力量 将在培训前、培训中和培训后进行评估。功能磁学 磁共振成像将被用来识别激活的大脑区域 在想象和实际的最大收缩期间，并量化 训练前后大脑和肌肉的激活程度。这个 该项目将提供有关人类随意肌肉机制的信息 加强和理解意志行为是如何发生的。这个 训练方法可以导致用于维持和/或 不能进行强力肌肉活动的患者的运动功能恢复 宫缩。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Abstract): The improvement of voluntary muscle strength can be accomplished by an enlargement of muscle mass or by changes that occur in the nervous system. The neural mechanism underlying the increase in strength are poorly understood. A recent study has demonstrated that the voluntary strength of a hand muscle can be increased by training with imagined maximal contractions. This finding indicates that the nervous system is able to increase strength in the absence of muscle exercise and the origin of the neural change associated with strength training appears to be in the brain. The current application proposes to explore this phenomenon by studying two specific aims. Aim 1 will determine the effect of imagined-muscle-contraction training on the strength of the elbow flexor and abductor digiti minimi muscles. The basis for Aim 1 is that the control scheme for a hand muscle differs in several ways from a proximal muscle. Aim 2 will identify the underlying neural mechanisms for the improved muscle performance due to the imagined-muscle-contraction training. Preliminary results demonstrated that: (1) the strength of the elbow flexor muscles can be increased (40%, an average of 3 subjects) by the imagined-contraction training; (2) there was a strong activation in the prefrontal association cortex during the imagined contraction and this activation was stronger in trained subjects; and (3) the activation pattern of the brain during an imagined contraction was similar to that during a forceful muscle contraction. The hypotheses of this application are that the imagined-contraction training will cause a similar increase in strength in the fifth finger abductor and elbow flexor muscles and that this increase in muscle force will be caused by a greater descending command from the prefrontal cortex. Three groups (one control and two training groups) of young, healthy human subjects will be recruited for the study. The training groups will be trained for 40 sessions with the imagined-maximal contractions. Voluntary strength of the two muscle groups will be evaluated before, during, and after training. Functional magnetic resonance imaging will be used to identify the activated brain regions during the imagined and actual maximal contractions and to quantify the magnitude of the brain and muscle activation before and after training. The project will provide information on the mechanisms of human voluntary muscle strengthening and on the understanding of how willed actions occur. The training method may lead to a rehabilitation regimen for maintaining and/or restoring motor functions in patients who cannot perform forceful muscle contractions.